38 CFR 38.620 - Persons eligible for burial.

The following is a list of those individuals who are eligible for burial in a national cemetery:

(a) Any veteran (which for purposes of this section includes a person who died in the active military, naval, or air service).

(b) Any member of a Reserve component of the Armed Forces, and any member of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, whose death occurs under honorable conditions while such member is hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while such member is performing active duty for training, inactive duty training, or undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.

(c) Any Member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force whose death occurs under honorable conditions while such member is—

(1) Attending an authorized training camp or on an authorized practice cruise;

(2) Performing authorized travel to or from that camp or cruise; or

(3) Hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while such member is—

(i) Attending that camp or on that cruise;

(ii) Performing that travel; or

(iii) Undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.

(d) Any person who, during any war in which the United States is or has been engaged, served in the armed forces of any government allied with the United States during that war, whose last such service terminated honorably, and who was a citizen of the United States at the time of entry on such service and at the time of his or her death.

(e) The spouse, surviving spouse, minor child, or unmarried adult child of a person eligible under paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), or (g) of this section. For purposes of this section—

(1) A surviving spouse includes a surviving spouse who had a subsequent remarriage;

(2) A minor child means an unmarried child under 21 years of age, or under 23 years of age if pursuing a full-time course of instruction at an approved educational institution; and

(3) An unmarried adult child means a child who became permanently physically or mentally disabled and incapable of self-support before reaching 21 years of age, or before reaching 23 years of age if pursuing a full-time course of instruction at an approved educational institution.

(f) Such other persons or classes of persons as may be designated by the Secretary.

(g) Any person who at the time of death was entitled to retired pay under chapter 1223 of title 10, United States Code, or would have been entitled to retired pay under that chapter but for the fact that the person was under 60 years of age.

(h) Any person who:

(1) Was a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States at the time of their death; and

(2) Resided in the United States at the time of their death; and

(3) Either was a—

(i) Commonwealth Army veteran or member of the organized guerillas—a person who served before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while such forces were in the service of the Armed Forces of the United States pursuant to the military order of the President dated July 26, 1941, including organized guerilla forces under commanders appointed, designated, or subsequently recognized by the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, or other competent authority in the Army of the United States, and who died on or after November 1, 2000; or

(ii) New Philippine Scout—a person who enlisted between October 6, 1945, and June 30, 1947, with the Armed Forces of the United States with the consent of the Philippine government, pursuant to section 14 of the Armed Forces Voluntary Recruitment Act of 1945, and who died on or after December 16, 2003.

(i)

(1) Any biological or legally adoptive parent who dies on or after October 13, 2010, and whose deceased child:

(i) Is a veteran who dies on or after October 7, 2001, and

(A) Except as provided in paragraph (i)(2) of this section, dies as the direct result of hostile action with the enemy, while in combat, while in transit to or from a combat mission if the cause of death is directly related to hostile action, or while hospitalized or undergoing treatment at the expense of the United States for injury incurred during combat; or

(B) Is killed mistakenly or accidentally by friendly fire that was directed at a hostile force or what was thought to be a hostile force; or

(C) Died from a training-related injury while performing authorized training activities in preparation for a combat mission;

(ii) Is interred in a national cemetery; and

(iii) Has no spouse or child who is buried, or surviving spouse or child who, upon death, may be eligible for burial, in a national cemetery under paragraph (e) of this section.

(2) A parent is not eligible for burial if the veteran dies due to the elements, a self-inflicted wound, combat fatigue, or a friendly force while the veteran was in an absent-without-leave, deserter, or dropped-from-rolls status or was voluntarily absent from a place of duty.

(3)

(i) A parent may be buried only within the veteran child's gravesite.

(ii) No more than two parents are eligible for burial per deceased veteran child.

(4) Parent burial eligibility is subject to a determination by the Secretary that there is available space within the veteran's gravesite.

The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration (NCA) proposes to amend its regulations to establish a new program to furnish caskets and urns for the interment of the remains of veterans with no known next-of-kin (NOK) where sufficient financial resources are not available for this purpose. This rulemaking is necessary to implement new statutory authority by establishing procedures to provide reimbursement for privately purchased caskets or urns and to otherwise administer the new program. This proposed rule would implement a portion of the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012 (the Act).

2014-06-26; vol. 79 # 123 - Thursday, June 26, 2014

79 FR 36273 - Reimbursement for Caskets and Urns for Burial of Unclaimed Remains in a National Cemetery

The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration (NCA) proposes to amend its regulations to establish a new program to furnish caskets and urns for the interment of the remains of veterans with no known next-of-kin (NOK) where sufficient financial resources are not available for this purpose. This rulemaking is necessary to implement new statutory authority by establishing procedures to provide reimbursement for privately purchased caskets or urns and to otherwise administer the new program. This proposed rule would implement a portion of the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012 (the Act).